Do women feel safe in New Orleans? Long-time resident says many are fearful amid crime surge

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Do women feel safe in New Orleans? Long-time resident fears for her safety

Eileen Carter, a long-time New Orleans resident, has been scared to go out at night amid the city's violent crime surge and said other women are fearful too.

NEW ORLEANS – Amid New Orleans' violent crime surge, women have started to fear leaving their homes alone at night, a long-time resident told Fox News.

"Women are scared," Eileen Carter, who has lived in New Orleans almost her whole life, told Fox News. "Women are inside after dark." 

Police officers collect evidence at the scene of a shooting that occurred during the Krewe of Bacchus parade Feb. 19, 2023 in New Orleans. (Photo by Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

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Violent crime has spiked dramatically in New Orleans over the past few years. The city had the most homicides per capita among major U.S. cities in September, briefly earning it the title of the nation's murder capital. Just three years earlier, New Orleans recorded its lowest number of homicides — 119 — in nearly half a century. 

"We're Gotham down here," Carter previously told Fox News. "It's sad to say, but we're calling ourselves that." 

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Carjackings and armed robberies also skyrocketed in 2022, though both have been trending downward this year, according to the New Orleans City Council. And more than 50 people have been killed in New Orleans since the start of the year, on pace with last year's soaring homicides.

"People are scared, Carter said. "People are fearful."

Carter co-launched a recall campaign against New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell in August 2022. The recall organizer told Fox News she launched the effort in response to the mayor's inaction to the city's many problems including the violent crime surge and crumbling infrastructure.

But the recall was squashed Tuesday after Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards announced that the campaign was short around 18,000 signatures to force a referendum. 

"The city is out of control because there's crime everywhere," one New Orleans woman said in a video posted to the No LaToya recall campaign's twitter. "I'm scared to leave my house." 

Carter told Fox News some women are going with male relatives to get gas or go to the grocery store because they're scared to go alone.

In 2022, there were 37 reported female murder victims in the Big Easy, the highest since 1996, according to the New Orleans City Council. One victim, a grandmother, was shot and killed while visiting the city during a Mardi Gras parade. The 50-year-old had moved out of the city to escape the crime surge in 2022 after her son was killed by gun violence, according to a family member who spoke to a CBS affiliate. 

"We don't want to live like this anymore," Carter said. "We just want to feel safe sitting at a red right. Somebody was shot sitting at a red light driving on I-10."

At least eight shootings occurred on I-10 in New Orleans during the first two months of 2023. (Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox News Digital)

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At least eight shootings occurred on the I-10 highway in New Orleans in the first two months of the year, according to police data compiled by Nola.com. In one shooting that left an Uber driver and his passenger dead, police later identified the suspect as a convicted felon who was out on bail — and fitted with an ankle monitor — for another crime. 

"New Orleanians, we are pretty resilient, and honestly, we're tired of being resilient," Carter previously told Fox News. "We want to thrive, and we deserve that." 

To watch Carter's full interview, click here.